


Darker than Night

by StarScreamLoki



Category: Loki - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Dark Character, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implications of BDSM, Implications of smut, Loki (Marvel) Feels, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-01 04:30:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15766641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarScreamLoki/pseuds/StarScreamLoki
Summary: Loki has fallen in love with a peculiar creature who wields great power and his obsession for her makes him blind. When she invites him to come along on a dangerous mission the mischievous God makes a tiny error and is suddenly forced to play with creatures who are stronger and more dangerous than him. To escape and successfully accomplish their mission Loki has to play along in a dangerous game from which he isn’t entirely sure if he likes it. Will he succeed and free the person he is after or will he fail and fall in the hands of the Dark Elves?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this fic was a challenge. I already had been playing with the idea to throw Loki in front of the Dark Elves - or better said Drow - but I couldn’t figure a story until I started some roleplay with the Loki from @winteritnk (thank you love!).  
> On some point in the story both Loki and de OFC swap gender and race and I have chosen to refer to the female Loki as ‘him’ and to the OFC as ‘her’ to keep it from being confusing.  
> Then there is a fair bit amount of mind-reading for which I choose to use bold marking.

“ **Idiot!** ” She screamed in his mind. “ **You utter and complete idiot!** ”

Loki looked down at the dozen gleaming blades that were trained on his throat and chest, a little fear creeping in his heart.

“ **I had told you not to speak out loud and yet you did!** ”

He could hear her sigh angrily in his mind and he knew he had made a grave mistake by not listing to her. It wasn’t as much he didn’t like to be told what to do as much he had forgotten not to speak out loud, though at that moment he couldn’t phantom the reason why they couldn’t speak, but now he did.

He glanced at the woman standing next to him and he was a little shocked to see she had changed to look exactly like the denizens from this realm.

Her skin was as black as the night, her hair whiter than snow and the length halfway to her back, her ears long and pointy and her eyes red as blood. She was wearing a black gown adorned with red lacing on the edges, their patterns intricate, bringing out the redness in her eyes which were set hard and cold.

Loki thought she looked beautiful but he had thought that from the first moment they had met, falling for her the moment he had laid eyes on her.

She was different, a creature that bore no name - but she had told him to call her Ixa - with powers that were beyond his. And even though she could have overthrown him, killed him even with a flick of her wrist, she had not. Instead she had shown him playfulness, kindness and a strange form of freedom. She had let him vent frustration in both fight and sex. And oh the sex had been good! She looked frail but he was sure she should could survive the sky collapsing on her because her powers almost seemed limitless.

Well, not entirely limitless. Ixa was bound to certain rules from which he only knew a few. He knew she couldn’t lie though he still hadn’t seen how she couldn’t - she had explained him it was physically almost impossible for her. And another weakness of her was that she could get called away by an unseen force at any moment, having to do a mission of some sorts to keep balance in the universe.

And they were on such an exact mission right now.

She had been called away and instead of leaving him behind, again, she had invited him to come along; an invitation he had greedily accepted so he could stay by her side.

Their journey had brought them deep into the bowels of a realm - Loki didn’t know which one or where - and they had been traveling through dark corridors of a cavern.

Loki didn’t know what creatures they were going to encounter although she had stopped him once to led a ‘something’ slid by and Loki had felt the shivers run down his spine when he saw something gooey slither in front of them. The feint light that had reflected from its paperwhite and almost translucent skin had given him the creeps. And he wasn’t one to get creeped out quickly but something that radiated from the creature, something he couldn’t quite grasp, told him he should be very afraid of it. She had been afraid of it as well as Loki had felt her anxiety rising when the ‘thing’ had crossed their path.

Ixa had later explained it as a mind-reader and mind-feeder which would crack open your skull to feast on your grey mass. The name of the monster - he could not describe it in any other form - which she had told him long forgotten from his mind, not deeming it important.

With a lot of effort Loki had managed to pry the goal of this mission from her but she hadn’t given him much. He wasn’t sure if it was because it pained her or for another reason - she seemed a little on edge for this mission and for someone with all her powers Loki felt a little uneasy. If she was frightened of something than maybe he should be too. But he didn’t want to dwell on it too long or he might take up on her offer to bring him back to a safe place and she would carry out the mission on her own; something he didn’t want because he wanted to stay with her and he didn’t want to show weakness.

Their mission was to save someone who had been captured by the denizens of this dark realm. Both the denizens and their target were named ‘Drow’, and their target was a merchant of great importance for some trades between the realms - whichever realms that might be - but the merchant had been captured and thrown into the dungeon of one of his kin. Apparently he had evoked the wrath of a Matron from what Ixa had explained as a ‘lower house’ and all the Drow belonging to that house had telekinetic gifts among probably another dozen abilities Loki knew naught about.

She had warned him that this mission was dangerous and that he should listen very carefully to her instructions or things could get ugly, and even though he trusted her, maybe even already loved her despite the short period they knew each other, he still didn’t like to be told what to do and had taken her warning lightly.

Maybe a little too lightly because the cold metal from the swords that were now pressed against his throat made him think he had made a tiny mistake. He hadn’t even seen the Drow nor sensed them and it scared him a little how silent and invisible these creatures had been until they had sprang out of the darkness of the cavern corridor.

Or did they have the aid of magic? Loki didn’t know.

A male dark-elf with the same white hair and black skin as Ixa, stepped in front of them. The armour he was wearing black and made from leather, the points and sharp ridges on it giving it a look that could only be described as ‘dark’ and ‘evil’. Loki felt himself tense at the menacing creature.

“Well, well. What do we have here?” he asked and turned to Loki. “A human,” the Drow said with so much disdain that Loki almost thought he would burn his tongue on the word, “and a-”

The Drow stopped in the middle of his sentence when he noticed the woman next to Loki and his face fell. “I’m sorry my priestess,” he said while stepping back, bowing as he did and frantically motioning to the other Drow surrounding them to lower the weapons trained on Ixa.

Loki could see that her red eyes were filled with malice and anger and she snapped at the Drow. “Lower your weapons on my pet or I’ll put you in my dungeon next to this human to become my plaything as well,” she hissed at the Drow which such malice and promise she would carry out her threat, that the male Drow visibly swallowed.

Loki swallowed too though he didn’t know it was because he felt a sudden heat at her authority or because he was a little frightened of her too. And what did she mean ‘pet’? Oh, she was going to beg for forgiveness when he was done with her when they would get out of here!

The male Drow started to stammer and fright filled his eyes while he frantically signaled the other Drow - all males Loki noticed now - to lower their swords. “As you wish, my priestess,” he said with a small voice and Loki felt how the blades fell away from his throat and he sighed in relief.

When Loki slightly moved to put his weight from one foot to the other he suddenly noticed his movements were restricted, and instead of cold metal blades at his throat he felt a metal collar around his neck and wrists, their shackles linked with chains.

What by the Norns?

“Bring me to Matron Khalorzza,” Ixa ordered the Drow, her voice almost emotionless except for the prominent promise of utter pain lingering underneath it.

The Drow inclined his head and eyed Loki with a loathing look.

“This one I can handle myself,” she bit at the Drow while giving the chains a tug, making Loki stumble to his knees for her strength was equal, if not greater, than his.

When the party started to move Loki quickly scrambled to his feet, Loki and Ixa in the middle of the group to protect them or to watch them; Loki wasn’t sure.

“ **You idiot** ,” she scolded him again talking in his mind. “ **Play along as I told you and above all, DO NOT SPEAK UNLESS YOU ARE SPOKEN TO!** ” she shouted in his head with multiple voices at the same time and his step almost faltered at the violent intrusion in his mind.

Oh, she would so pay for this!

He remained silent for a while and followed along in her plan though he hated it and simply nodded. He figured she should do the talking in this matter because he had been foolish once and he wasn’t up for furthering endangering them. But he also enjoyed the anger he evoked within her and the anger she evoked in him. His eyes gleamed mischievous because anger was such a delicious emotion for some good sex! Loki shuddered at the thought.

“ **Chaining me is a very different experience I’ve encountered with you so far, though I’m not enjoying this** ,” Loki spoke in her mind with revulsion. “ **But I will follow along and not speak** ,” he flicked casually and his eyes narrowed as he glimpsed sideway at her to make eye contact but she didn’t return the favor.

While they walked Loki noticed she looked straight ahead and didn’t even deem him worth a glimpse, her face stern and devoid of emotion.

“ **I know you don’t like this but if you don’t do as I tell you, no matter how much it marres your pride, I can guarantee you that death would be the least of our problems. This can get worse. A LOT WORSE!** ” she snarled in his mind.

Loki swallowed, not out of fear but because of her bitter demand and he figured that if she was enraged than this situation was dire indeed.

Loki noticed that some of the surrounding Drow on the occasion stole a glance at them and whenever she glanced at them they quickly looked away, almost quivering in fear.

Loki lowered his head and averted his gaze to the dark cold ground, milling over her words until his lips curled in a little smile as he began to talk in her mind. “ **Yes, I was not wise, and I might apologize for that later** .”  _Might_ he told himself,  _after_ he was done with punishing her for putting him in chains.

When they turned into another corridor Loki could see a faint purple glow at the end and he was relieved that their journey soon would come to an end.

“ **Do you even know anything about Drow?** ” she asked him, her voice in his head a lot warmer than the cold tone she had used before.

Loki took a few quick paces so he was right next to her, walking beside her as a good dog would do - the irony of the comparison to a pet not lost on him and he scowled a little.

“ **I do not, but they seem to have a lot of history due to their appearance. They are an elf of some sort I believe, dark-elf, though they look different than the ones I’m familiar with** ,” he answered her with soft words and even sounding vulnerable. He felt like a little lost child next to Ixa and her knowledge. He had always thought that he was the smart one, and maybe he was, but she seemed to know so much more than him but he truly doubted her smarts.

He glanced at her, trying to catch something in her eyes but he saw nothing other than her cold red orbs. When he looked down he noticed from the corners of his eyes some of the Drow watching him, their expressions a mix of disgust and eyeing Ixa with some form of disrespect.

She started to talk rapidly in his mind, explaining him the basics of these creatures. “ **In Drow society females are in charge and males are worth less than the lowest Aesir slave. A human is even worth less than that and you look like one.** ” With a gesture she halted the party and tugged on Loki’s chain so he was facing her. She looked at him scornfully and with utter disdain, rapidly speaking in his mind again. “ **Males aren’t allowed to look a female in the eye unless they tell them so and they are not allowed to speak.** ”

At her explanation on the hierarchy a lump formed in Loki’s throat and he hesitated to show his fear, his eyes locking on the solid ground beneath him again. Loki wanted to answer her but she interrupted him.

“ **The former you just did while we were walking,** ” she continued, “ **and that is all the warning I can give you now.** ” Before she had fully ended her sentence she backhanded Loki across the face, hard! “Did you just look at me, Human?” she spat at him, the utter loathing in her voice apparent.

The smack had caught him off guard and the Drow around them snickered at his agony, further enraging him.

“ **Don’t look at me, don’t answer! I didn’t tell you to speak!** ” she commanded him in his mind, but Loki caught the plea that she had spoken it with. He wondered what had made her fashion her plea in this matter but he truly did not wish to find out because he didn’t feel in any position to argue.

Loki didn’t move while he warily continued to stare at the floor, feeling very small and vulnerable, but most of all hurt. The sting on his cheek from her backhand had already healed, but it was his inside that hurt for what she had done to him - did to him!

He had been sure she liked him as well, otherwise she wouldn’t have taken him along on this mission, but for the first time he started to doubt this and he felt more wrecked with every passing thought.

Loki blanked out his thoughts to protect himself from spiraling down a dark hole, but also so she couldn’t read his mind. When she signaled the party to move again he just trailed after her, his eyes fixed on the floor while following her.

“ **I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry** ,” Ixa spoke in his mind, the feeling that she indeed felt very bad flooding over him and it made him feel a little better.

“ **Try to pay attention to your surroundings while we travel. It might be of use later** ,” she advised him and she quickened up her step so that she was walking in front of him now.

Loki just stayed behind her, not knowing what to do with the situation and resolving into silence to see how this would play out.

When the corridor ended they found themselves in a large chasm. Buildings from which their function was unknown protruded from the dark rock, their forms ridged and evil-looking. In the middle of the cave stood a weird stalactite which radiated purple light, softly glowing and lighting the cavern.

Male Drow ran to and fro and on a lot of places there were weird creatures with green skins at work; their appearance varying from small ones with long ears and noses to more brutal looking ones with large tusks and bulky muscles. On the occasion Loki spotted a human or a creature that looked like a human.

They all looked as if they could collapse and die any moment. The male Drow that surrounded the slaves bore crude weapons, prodding and shouting at them to keep working, and looking at the slaves as if they didn’t care if they would live through the next minute or punishment.

Loki snickered internally, their faith a lot worse than his but it suddenly dawned on him that if they played their cards wrong that they could end up there. He swallowed at the thought of it and quickly upped his pace to stay close to Ixa.

The party was led to of one of those weird looking buildings and they were led inside through more corridors until they were in front of a door. She opened the door and stepped inside the room which was sparsely furnished with just a single comfortable looking chair - clearly a waiting room though Loki was still trying to figure out why there was only one chair. Where would she sit?

The door fell shut behind them and she held up her finger for Loki not to speak. She waved her magic and a familiar shield shimmered over the walls, ceiling and floor, sealing of the outside world for onlookers and unwanted eavesdroppers.

Ixa turned to Loki, a look of dread crossing her black features. “You can speak and move freely now, they won’t hear us,” she said softly while looking down.

“What by the Norns were you thinking!” Loki barked at her and she cringed. He advanced on her, anger blazing in his eyes, his chains rattling. “GET THESE OFF!” he screamed at her, his face contorted in utter rage while he towered over her small form.

With a whisk of her magic the chains and shackles disappeared. “I’m sorry,” she squealed, “but  _you_ got us in this situation. If only you had listened!”

This time it was Loki who lashed out and backhanded her across the face, his anger momentarily getting the better of him.

“I deserved that,” she mumbled while putting a hand on her black-skinned cheek and looking back at him.

“Oh, you deserved that and so much more!” he hissed at her and grabbed her white hair, fisting it and yanking her head backwards so he could stare down at her. “If you’d be so kind to tell me how to proceed from here with this ‘clever’ plan of yours my wrath may not half be as harsh when we get out of here,” he hissed.

She swallowed and sighed. “I have no plan, I’m just winging it,” she said deadpanned. “But we will be summoned to speak with the Matron soon.”

“So you expect me to come along in chains again and act as your pet?” Loki snarled at her, the idea not appealing at all. Not in this form and situation anyway.

“Well, yes, that was the idea except for a little problem,” she said with a small voice but remained silent while she bit her lip, her red eyes still showing a little dread.

Loki roughly pulled her hair, yanking her head this way and that. “Speak!”

“I have all the knowledge to talk us out of here with the Drow merchant were are trying to save but-”

“But what?” Loki barked.

“But I can not lie!” she bit at him while she grabbed his wrists and pulled his arms down to relieve the tension on her scalp. “ _You_ have to do the talking!”

Confusion washed over Loki’s face and he let go of her hair. “You just told me females were in charge here and that Humans are nothing but an ant underneath their boots, how in the nine realms do you expect me to do the talking?” he asked still enraged. “On top of that I’m not sure if you have spoken truthfully because you say you cannot lie and yet you kicked me around like a dog and seemed to enjoy it quite a lot!”

Her head snapped up to look at him and an angry scowl formed on her lips.

“You did enjoy that didn’t you?” Loki asked threateningly.

Ixa bit her lip before she answered him. “I’m not going to say I didn’t enjoy it but I’m also not going to lie and say I did enjoy every bit of it!” she answered sceptically.

“See! You are a little lair,” Loki said while closing a hand around her throat, locking her in place, the action to assert his dominance earning him a bored look.

“If you do not believe me than I’ll show you,” she spat and before Loki could interject the words already tumbled from her lips. “I hate you and I could never love you!” she hissed.

For a split-second nothing happened but then she was suddenly torn from his grasp, a purple magic filled with twinkling  stars suddenly whipped around her, it’s origin unknown to him, and seeming to beat her violently. Her eyes glazed over and filled itself with the same purple color adorned with millions of stars, clearly hurting her as Loki could see the silent scream wrought from agony frozen on her face.

“Okay I lied!” she screamed and just like that the magic was gone and she slumped to the floor, panting heavily.

Loki looked in awe at her crumbled form, fear gripping his heart for he had not only seen what the unseen force had done to her, he had almost felt it, tasted it! And if something this strong could bring  _her_ to her knees, than he was very afraid of what it might do to him.

But what had caught him off guard the most was the lie she had spoken had and he felt his anger deprive a little, assuring him that she did like him, maybe even love him, and taking away the doubt he had felt earlier.

Suddenly he really disliked this mission and regretted on coming along but it was too late to back out now and he knelt so he could support her while she pushed herself to her feet. “What do you propose?” he sighed.

“A swap,” Ixa said simply while straightening herself.

Loki gave her a puzzled look and he got a feeling he wouldn’t like where this was going.

“You can shapeshift. Shift into this form-” she indicated her body with her hands whilst speaking “-so you can do the talking and lying while looking like a drow.”

Loki swallowed. “Yes, I can, but I know nothing about these creatures. How do you expect me to do the talking and not make a mess out of this?”

“I’m going to regret this,” she mumbled under her breath. “I’m going to shapeshift into  _you_ and guide you through all this while talking in your mind and giving you the information you need so you can lie our way out  _and_ retrieve the merchant.”

It took Loki a moment to recover from his shock but than an evil smile formed on his lips. “Oh, I like this,” he said a little too happy and she caught the malicious twinkle in his eyes.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door and entered the room. It was the same male Drow from before and he looked Loki straight in the eye. “Matron Qidia Khalorzza is ready to speak with you know,” he informed.

Loki felt like a deer staring at the tip of an arrow for he had not expected the male to address him but luckily she spoke in her mind and told him what to do. “I will be ready shortly,” Loki replied curt and the Drow bowed, turned on his heel and left.

Loki turned to her to ask what had happened and he was shocked to look back in his own eyes.

He quickly glanced down at his own form but he was still himself. “How?” he started.

“You are not the only one who can concoct illusions, Trickster,” she retorted in his voice and he felt a little creeped out. “Now shift into my female Drow so we can get this game started,” she snickered and with a whisk of magic she was wearing the chains he had worn earlier.

A false smile formed on Loki’s lips as he shifted form.

This was going to be a dangerous but such an enjoyable game!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second and final part of Dark than Night. Enjoy!

When they entered the room Loki spotted the female Drow that was referred to as the Matron. She was clad in a white gown, the silk hugging her black skin beautiful, her features sharp and her eyes such a deep red they almost seemed like rubies.

She was sitting on a chair that Loki could only describe as a throne. The black marble from which it was carved had the likings of a giant spider with red gems as eyes, the dais adorned with images of webbings and making the rest of the room look small. On either side of the throne stood a female Drow in full black armour, crude whips hanging from their belts. “ **Her children,** ” Loki was quickly informed by Ixa, and in front of her throne were two Drow - unmistakably male - lying prostrate on the cold floor, their faces down and wearing only a loincloth.

Now Loki eyed the room from his peripheral vision he saw more male Drow in the room, some of them kneeling, others concealed in the shadows, their clothing varying from very ragged to full leather armour, all of them staring out in front of them like they weren’t even alive and a little shudder ran down Loki’s spine.

The Matron beckoned them to step forward and Loki, who was shifted into the female Drow form Ixa had worn before, advanced to the dais, his chin high and his back straight as he gave the chain he was holding a little tug.

Ixa who had adoned the likes of Loki stumbled after him, and Loki had to admit it unsettled him more than he thought it would and he was still adjusting to his female Drow skin.

When Loki was in front of the dais he looked the female Drow straight in the eye and on her turn she tried to glare Loki down, but Loki was not deterred.

“It is highly unusual to bring a human along,” the Matron spoke and glared at the Loki in the chains behind him.

Loki feigned a smile and spoke, “oh, he is hardly Human,” he countered.

“ **What are you doing?** ” Ixa asked frightened in Loki’s mind but Loki didn’t answer.

The Matron raised a perfect white manicured eyebrow but said nothing and Loki gave the chains another tug, making Ixa stumble and fall to her knees. “Come on, show her,” Loki bade her. “ **Shift to your female human form** ,” he commanded Ixa in her mind.

Ixa did as Loki bade her, shifting to her female human form and she angrily answered in his mind. “ **That was a grave mistake, Loki.** ”

“ **Why?** ”

“ **Because you just put value on something that was worthless** ,” she answered at the same time the Matron leaned forward to study Ixa better.

Her answer angered Loki immensely and he made a mental note to punish her later for calling him worthless but then it suddenly dawned on him that they had reversed their roles and that he could correct her behavior right now.

With open hand Loki hit Ixa on the back of the head hard enough to make her fall forward from her already kneeling position.

“ **Why did you do that!** ” she snapped at him.

“ **Because you called me worthless** ,” Loki flicked casually and briefly he caught the amusement in the red eyes of the Matron.

“Hm, your Shapeshifter amuses me,” the Matron addressed Loki but she didn’t smile.

Loki smiled. “Thank you for your gracious words, Matron Khalorzza,” Loki purred. “They are hard to come by these days.”

“Indeed they are,” the female Drow retorted and she leaned back in her throne.

Loki looked down at Ixa and he had a hard time to hide his surprise. “ **Why are you still lying on the floor?** ” Loki hissed in her mind.

“ **You didn’t tell me to get up** ,” she retorted with a sigh and Loki felt another shockwave ripple through him. For all the slaves he had encountered in his life and beings he had beaten in submission, not one played the part so well as she did!

“Get back on your knees!” he barked and his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as she heeded his command directly and scurried to her knees with a squeal, trembling in fear. Loki almost didn’t believe it - no, he didn’t believe it! She was so much more powerful than him and here she was trembling like a meager mortal and he couldn’t deny the heat he suddenly felt at her submissive display.

“What is your name and where are you from?” the Matron inquired addressing Loki, and he tore his eyes from Ixa’s quivering form to look at the Matron. He was silent for a moment, fear gripping his heart because he hadn’t thought about this yet and didn’t know what to say.

“ **Just pick a name and tell them you are from Chaulssin, second house** ,” Ixa helped him.

“I’m Priestess Ikol from the second house of Chaulssin,” Loki lied. Well, part of it was a lie and it felt strange for him to use his pseudo for the first time since long.

“Hm, Priestess Ikol,” the Matron mused. “You did travel alone to our city yet you seem graced by Lolth. Where are your guards?” she asked suspicious.

Ixa wanted to jump in to help him but Loki answered without missing a beat. “Who said I was traveling alone, Matron Khalorzza?” and a gleam crossed in his red eyes.

The Matron studied him and for a moment and Loki feared she could see through him but then she spoke coldly. “State your business, Priestess Ikol from Chaulssin.”

“ **Don’t spill everything at once** ,” Ixa warned him and Loki had to suppress a laugh.

“Well, it has come to my attention that you have someone in captivity who-” Loki mused over the words he wanted to use. “Who has my interest so to speak,” he finished cryptically and he briefly licked his black lips, their form so much plumper in this female form than his own. He briefly considered picking up this form more often because-

“And what is this person I own worth to you?” the Matron interrupted his thoughts.

Loki flicked his wrist in a demusive gesture, “Oh, not much. After all, we are talking about a lowly male.”

Ixa listened in awe at the game Loki was playing perfectly without her aid, on the other hand she wasn’t surprised and she almost berated herself for her lack of trust in him.

She tuned out of their political conversation for a moment so she could quickly read the minds of the other occupants of the room and almost had to laugh at their thoughts. Most of the males pitied her but then again they pitied their own fate, their life constant on the balance for doing something wrong which could differ from moving to even breathing. The females in the room were intrigued by Ikol but even more so by Ixa and her ability to shapeshift, and Ixa felt a little uneasy.

“ **Ixa! What is his name!** ” Loki asked her anxious and pulling her from her musings. Ixa figured she hadn’t been paying attention a little too long.

“ **Anzidh Odovrash** ,” she answered him and Loki scoffed in her mind at the ridiculous name.

“Anzidh Odovrash, the Merchant,” Loki answered to a question which Ixa had not heard.

“And what do you have offer in return for Anzidh?” Matron Khalorzza asked.

Loki hesitated to answer and reached out in his mind to Ixa to get some form of an acceptable answer that would satisfy the Matron.

“A hundredth slaves of different breeds. He is hardly worth more,” Loki casually flicked but the actual amount Ixa had given him surprised him. She had said he could offer over five times more - surely someone couldn’t be worth that much?

“And yet you have come all the way here in person to bargain for him, Priestess Ikol, therefore I believe he’s worth far more than you lead on,” the Matron retorted cold.

Apparently he was wrong in his estimation of values and Loki briefly wondered how much he himself was worth.

“ **Less than twenty slaves because you look like a human** ,” Ixa’s bored reply came.

Loki looked at the Matron again and swallowed at the angry look she was giving him for his silence while he was distracted, but he quickly composed himself. “You are assuming things again, Khalorzza. I have multiple purposes to come to this city, Anzidh was just one of them,” he sighed with apparent boredom.

“And what might those other purposes be?” the Matron inquired threateningly, leaning forward in her throne again, her daughters at either side reaching for the handles of their whips.

Loki scoffed. “I’m here to talk business with you only about the merchant, my other interests are of no concern to you!”

“ **Loki!** ” Ixa warned with a little plea in her voice, letting him know he was trespassing on dangerous ground but Loki cared not. Thus Far he hadn’t seen anything from these creatures that he should fear so why should he back down?

This time the Matron scoffed and she studied him. “I will think about it,” she said emotionless. “You can go and will be summoned when I’ve come to a decision.”

Loki’s face contorted. “The decision can’t be that difficult. He is hardly wo-”

“LEAVE!” the Matron shouted so hard that some of the Drow surrounding them cringed at her outburst and Loki fixed her with a scrutinizing glare.

“ **Loki, if we don’t leave they will assault us** ,” Ixa warned.

Loki narrowed his eyes and then spoke with a voice smooth as silk, “as you wish, Matron Kahlorzza.”

“Get up and heel,” he ordered Ixa who quickly scrambled to her feet and trailed after Loki out of the room.

 

***

 

When Ixa and Loki were among themselves again - albeit this time they had been brought to a different room which not only had a chair but also a bed - Ixa wasted no time to conduct another shield and Loki changed back to his own form and threw himself on the bed.

“Well, that was fun,” he remarked dryly and Ixa fixed him with a deadly glare.

“ **_That_ ** was fun?” she shouted. “You almost got us killed you idiot!”

Loki’s face screwed up in confusion and then turned to anger. “Do I need to remind you that you put me in that position and now you are scolding me?” He flung his legs over the side of the bed and leaned towards her, his movements showing he tried to keep a grip on the situation but he felt it slip.

With a few quick steps she was in front of him and wanted to slap him across the face, but Loki saw it coming and caught her hand. Rage burned in his eyes as he twisted her arm, forcing her on her knees, her back to him. “You do not get to do that after everything you put me through today,” he hissed in her ear.

She gave no reaction to his utter dismay. Usually when he did this to someone they shuddered albeit it in fear or in lust but he didn’t evoke any reaction in her and it fueled his rage. He pushed her arm up a little further and still she didn’t flinch.

“Loki,” she said calmly, “let me go.”

“Or what?” he challenged her, not in the slightest deterred by her words. But as soon as she planted her other elbow against his nose, cracking it and drawing blood, he knew his mistake. For a moment he had thought her the human mortal she currently looked like but he had forgotten the dangerous and strong creature that lingered underneath.

Before he was well aware he was lying flat on the floor, this time  **_his_ ** arm twisted behind his back and the harder he wriggled the more painful it got. With her other hand she pushed his face down, his cheek touching the cold floor and he felt the blood drip from his nose as she hissed in his ear. “Or this!” and she pushed his arm a little further, drawing a gasp from his lips. “Now listen up and listen very carefully. When we are summoned again the roles are back to what they were. I will do the talking and you are going to be a good boy and listen to me and you won’t get hurt,” she hissed.

Loki barked a laugh. “And how are you suppose you are going to lie when it’s necessary,” he spat trying to struggle free from her grasp but he couldn’t and he felt strangely aroused by it.

“I’ll figure out a way but I don’t trust you again to do this,” she bit at him.

Her words cut through him like a hot knife and he ceased his struggle and went limp. It wounded him greatly that she didn’t trust him after all he had done for her - with her! Sometimes he loathed that people always saw the bad in him and that they didn’t trust him, and all hope that she would think differently deprived.

When she let go of him and climbed of his back he slowly raised to his feet and gave her a wounded look, his pride marred. “Fine,” he said coldly. “Do what you want.”

Loki walked to the chair, turned it so his back was to her and sat down, fidgeting with his hands.

Ixa stared at his back, her own anger far from depriving but she knew she had hurt him and that made her feel bad. Yet she knew that if she pushed him now things would only get worse and she settled on the cot, staring at the ceiling and musing how she was going to play their game when they were summoned without the aid of lying.

“Loki?” she mumbled softly but she didn’t get a response. He was still sitting in his chair brooding and seething in his anger. “I’m sorry,” she said and Loki glanced over his shoulder and then back to the wall.

He was relieved to know her apology was sincere because the unseen force didn’t start to slam her around, but he also figured she wouldn’t say it if she didn’t mean it - she was far to blunt for that.

Loki still didn’t respond to her, her excuse not mending his wounded heart in the slightest and he berated himself for ever falling in love with her.

“Hurt is part of love,” she whispered and turned to her side, staring at his back. “But so is making up and forgiving one.”

Loki turned then to give her an angry look. He hated how his thoughts weren’t private with her but then again it saved him the trouble to explain - if he ever explained that was, which he often didn’t and that had gotten him hurt time and again in the past. 

It was just that he didn’t like to share his feelings, especially after so many decades of people stepping on them and thus he had simply refrained from trying to share them or even explain his actions.

He sighed as he stared into her orbs and when she opened her arms, beckoning him to lie in them, he get up from the chair and complied.

He snuggled in her arms and he didn’t understand why he suddenly felt so small. Normally it was the other way around and she would snuggle in his arms, but this felt oddly comforting in this harsh environment and it only dawned on him now that the dark and ridged surroundings might be affecting his demeanor as well.

Loki closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of her hair that had fallen over his shoulders and he felt the tension leave, the familiarity of it comforting him. Soon the darkness of sleep beckoned him and when she softly scratched his scalp with her nails he felt himself fall away into the lulling bliss of sleep.

 

***

 

When Loki opened his eyes he saw Ixa sitting in the middle of the room, her legs crossed and her eyes closed. Loki rubbed his hands over his face and swung his legs over the bed to get up and walk to Ixa. When his hand hovered above her head to stroke her hair she suddenly spoke. 

“Don’t!”

Her voice was cold and detached and Loki pulled his hand away and looked down on her questingly. “How long have I been asleep?” he asked her. He never had wanted to fall asleep - didn’t think he could have in this harsh environment - but apparently he had and he regretted it a little bit.

She didn’t answer him and he saw her eyelids clench and her eyes flit behind them. He shuddered at the morbid sight.

Slowly she opened her eyes and they fixed themselves on his green orbs.

“Have you even slept?” Loki asked her and she shook her head.

She scrambled to her feet and put her arms in the air, making herself taller to stretch the stiffness in her muscles away.

Suddenly the air around Loki shimmered grey and he felt himself being pushed to his knees, his head forced down and the familiar chains were back around his wrist and throat before he was even remotely aware of what was happening in his still sleepy state. “What-” he started but he cut off his words as soon as he heard the door from their room open.

“The Matron is ready to see you again,” a male voice informed them, or actually Ixa because Loki was well aware that it didn’t matter to the Drow if he was around or not.

Without a word Ixa pulled the chains and Loki had to scramble to get his feet under him and not fall flat on his face as she walked towards their escort near the door.

Without any words they walked through the corridors to the throne-room of the Matron, the scene unchanged from their last visit though Ixa was sure - knew even - that the male drow lying prostrate in front of her dais were different ones than the ones from a couple of hours ago.

To Loki they all looked the same as the ones yesterday, and it suddenly hit him that he didn’t know what time of the day it was. He had slept, yes, and his body tried to tell him this was a new day, but since they had ventured into the underdark he hadn’t seen a change of day of any sorts. It could well be that it was still the same day or that maybe a week had passed - however he doubted the latter.

With a snap of her fingers while not even looking at him Ixa got Loki’s attention and pointed to the floor. Loki sank to his knees and bowed his head down, that strange sensation of the urge to rebel mixed with contempt washed over him again and he gritted his teeth.

Loki tuned out as Ixa and the Matron started their political dance and he closed his eyes as he let himself drift on the melodic sound of Ixa’s voice. He didn’t understand what she had done to him. The one moment she ruffled his feathers making him plunge into an all consuming rage, the next moment she was kind and loving, defusing his anger like it was the simplest thing in the realm to do.

Loki got pulled from his contemplitations as the sound of a whip cracked through the room and he quickly looked up. Before he could see what was happening Ixa’s hand was on the back of his head violently shoving him down to the floor and he grunted.

Every fiber in his body screamed to fight her, to get the upper hand but he knew he shouldn’t try and thus he surrendered to her, putting his trust in her hands as his forehead touched the cold floor and his hair falling around his face blocked his sight.

“ **That was not meant for you and you shouldn’t have reacted** ,” Ixa’s words berated him in his mind.

“ **I know. I- I forgot** ,” he answered her.

“ **Pay attention instead of letting your mind wander** ,” she answered him and piercing straight through his lie.

“Stay down,” she hissed into his ear and he felt her hand fall away from the back of his head as she rose to her feet again and Loki payed attention to what was happening around him again.

“Your Shapeshifter,” the Matron indicated addressing Ixa, “this is its preferred form?”

The question struck Loki as odd but he realized that Ixa had changed into a Drow when they came to collect her and that she hadn’t changed him into her female form, and neither had he.

“Answer her!” Ixa barked at him and Loki put his elbows underneath him so he could look the Matron in the eye while speaking but a foot on his back pushed him down back to the cold floor.

“I said answer, not rise,” Ixa scolded him and Loki let out a whimper in the back of his throat.

No, he didn’t like this at all and yet he did.

“Y-yes,” he answered curtly with a quivering voice and he heard the Matron snort derisive. Loki had never intended to make it sound like he was frightened but apparently he had missed the moment he had turned a little scared and he silently berated himself for not catching it in time.

“He might once have been worth three hundred slaves but since you have marred him his value has been halved,” Ixa said to the Matron and Loki tried to puzzle the conversation that had happened before her answer together in his head.

“You and I both know that is a lie,” the Matron said coldly and Loki could feel Ixa stiffen next to him. But nothing happened, no violent magic and thus her words must have been true and Loki tried to find an explanation as to why she had spoken truthfully and how she knew about the state of the Merchant.

“I’ll take the deal under one condition,” the Matron said mysteriously.

“Name it!” Loki heard her demand.

“I want the Shapeshifter as well,” she said and pointed at Loki.

Loki couldn’t help a whimper that wrought itself from the back of his throat and a thick silence suddenly hang in the air.

“ **Ixa, don’t!** ” Loki spoke to her in her mind. “ **There must be another way** ,” but her silence lodged dread deep in his heart and he suddenly found himself speaking words in her mind which he never would have thought he would have spoken. “ **Please, please, don’t! Ixa if you love me-** ”

His words got cut off by her stone cold answer and Loki felt his heart drop and the blood in his veins screeched to a halt.

“Deal!”

 

***

 

After the conversation with the Matron things had passed quickly.

Loki had begged and pleaded to Ixa to not hand him over but she hadn’t answered him. Her silence and her betrayal had wounded him deeply and since then a painful anger coursed through his veins, stabbing and stinging at his very being and demanding to be let out, to vent and be fought it off, demanding to be used to throttle the life out of that misleading minx that claimed to love him, but he couldn’t so much as move in his new perilous state.

Ixa had handed him over to one of the guards on the side and on the command of the Matron he had been dragged through the dark complex through some darker dungeon of sorts where they had put him in chains on the wall.

When he had entered the dungeon a male drow, beaten and looking so hagged even Loki’s stomach had turned for a brief moment, was being escorted outside and he figured it was the merchant for who Ixa had traded him.

Loki had tugged his chains, expecting they would be no match for his divine strength, but when the metal had bit in his wrist he had quickly forfeited and realised he had underestimated these creatures.

He tried to reach out with his mind to her, screaming her name in his head and demanding attention, but she didn’t answer and Loki wondered if it was because she hadn’t heard him or because she didn’t want to answer him.

Time passed by without any form of activity leaving Loki to his mind and listening to the sounds around him. It was clear there were other prisoners in this dungeon as well, but he couldn’t see them because the entire complex was dark. He didn’t dare to summon some magic to illuminate his surroundings, afraid someone would notice and ‘making him more valuable’ as Ixa had put it.

Loki unwillingly bared his teeth and growled in the back of his throat as he thought of her. When he would get out of here he would make her pay! But something in the back of his mind told him she had a plan. A couple of hours ago, before he had fallen asleep, she had made it quite clear she really liked him, maybe even loved him, and if that was true she would come for him.

Loki desperately clang to those thoughts as if they were his last resort and he hoped, almost begged, it was true.

She would come for him!

Wouldn’t she?

Doubt almost consumed him as more time crept by, Loki was entirely lost if they were minutes or hours in this everlasting darkness, and he slowly felt his heart sink to his stomach when nothing happened - when she didn’t came for him or made contact.

A purple light came into view from his right, it’s bright shine stinging his eyes after so long in darkness and making them water, and for a moment he thought his mind was playing tricks with him. Then he heard somebody grunt and more than one person seemed to enter the complex.

He heard the rattle of chains and footsteps coming his way. A face shifted into his view and it took him a couple of seconds to recognize the red eyes that were looking back at him, a wicked grin plastered across her face. 

The Matron!

“Shapeshifter,” she purred while tracing a finger over his cheek, making Loki shiver under the touch. “I think you will make a fine decoration next to my throne,” she purred.

She loosened the chains from the wall and Loki slumbed to the floor. She gave the chains a tug, a silent command to follow her, but Loki didn’t comply and just stayed on the floor.

The Matron shrugged and started to walk, her strength greater than Loki’s and literally dragging him behind her, the metal from the shackles biting in his wrists and the strain of the pull making the sockets of his arms scream in agony.

He quickly tried to scramble to his feet when he saw the stairs drawing near and it took him a couple of attempts but in the end he succeeded.

In silence he followed the Matron, taking the time to take in his surroundings, learning as much as possible and not daring to make a move against her because he was well aware of all the red eyes that constantly eyed him from the shadows.

The route they were walking was unfamiliar to him and he got a sense that instead of going upwards in the complex to where her throne room was, they were heading downwards, deeper into the building.

The walls were becoming less smooth and less decorated with every turn until he was surrounded by rough stone and the only light was the purple ball of magic that hovered near the Matron which she whisked away at some point, plunging them into impenetrable darkness.

Loki didn’t know and couldn’t see where they were going, and he stumbled more than once on a jutting stone as the Drow kept dragging him along.

They came to a halt and Loki bumped against her at her sudden stop which he hadn’t seen and he immediately scurried a few steps back, expecting a snippy remark or actually worse - the bite of her whip for example - but nothing came.

“Just follow this path and you will find the surface again,” a low and husked voice spoke near him. Loki nearly jumped out of his boots at the unexpected sound be he kept his composure, not making a sound or a move but he felt the adrenaline course hot through his veins.

“Take care next time,” the Matron answered the unknown voice which Loki had labeled as male.

But the voice of the Matron sounded off as well and something tried to force its way from the back of his mind, but he couldn’t grasp at it.

“Why? I can always count on you saving me, can’t I?” the male voice asked.

“Not always and you know it,” the Matron who was not the Matron answered.

The other person snorted. “Who did you replace him with?”

“Oh, some lowly denezing who will not be missed with a glamour that will wear off in a couple of days.”

“She will be pissed.”

“Yes, try to steer clear of her for a couple of days,” the female laughed. Something in that laugh tickled the back of Loki’s brain but he couldn’t grasp at it, intrigued with the strange conversation.

“A couple of years you mean,” the male snickered and the female joined him in their mirth.

“Thank you, Anzidh,” the female voice spoke. After that Loki felt a tug at the chains and was being dragged along again through the never seeming to end darkness.

“Who are you?” Loki asked and he was glad his voice didn’t waver.

The person escorting him didn’t speak and just resumed the course.

Loki gritted his teeth and replayed the conversation he had just heard in his head while trying not to trip in the darkness when it suddenly dawned on him.

“IXA!” he said with equal parts astonishment as anger.

She chuckled. “Took you long enough, my dear Trickster.”

 

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [I thrive on coffee](https://ko-fi.com/starscreamloki)

**Author's Note:**

> I thrive on comments <3  
> 


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